


An Old Enemy

by Captain_Kraken



Series: N.S.S. Files [2]
Category: Splatoon
Genre: Minor Original Character(s), Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-02
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:55:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23972614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Captain_Kraken/pseuds/Captain_Kraken
Summary: This series contains shifts in the narrator. It will be indicated by a symbol followed by an arrow then another symbol.🦑 - Krakatoa🐙 - Korral
Series: N.S.S. Files [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678078
Kudos: 2





	1. Mission: Swimpossible

**Author's Note:**

> This series contains shifts in the narrator. It will be indicated by a symbol followed by an arrow then another symbol.
> 
> 🦑 - Krakatoa
> 
> 🐙 - Korral

Korral, Callie, Marie, and I had just finished a shift of Salmon Run, and we all went to the counter to get our bonus rewards. Since I hadn’t grabbed mine in a while, I had about eighteen to pick up.

“You guys go on ahead and play some games, I’ll call you guys when I’m done.” I told them this, and they went on ahead to the Lobby while I collected my cash, gear, and tickets. Right as I passed the grate, something went over my head, and something else grabbed me, pulled me away, and I was knocked unconscious.

  
  
  


“Ugh, where am I?” I tried to open my eyes, but found there was some sort of cloth over them. I tried to remove it, but I found my arms were tied to my sides, and another rope seemed to bind me to the chair I was sitting in.

“Well, well, well. Look who finally decided to wake up.” A sinister female voice cut through the silence. “The one and only Agent 4.” I started to turn into squid form, and was met with an electric shock. “Oh, you poor fool. Did you think I would allow that so soon?”

“Who are you, and what do you want?” I had a bit more growl in my voice than I intended.

“My my my, a feisty one, aren’t you?” The owner of the voice giggled. “You won’t be getting a name from me, but what I want….” The owner of the voice grabbed my face violently. “Is revenge.” With that, she smacked me, and nearly knocked me out again.

“Revenge? Revenge for what?”

I was punched directly in my stomach. “Revenge for all of the Octarians like myself you splatted on your missions.” The rope keeping me to the chair was untied, and I was thrown to the ground, about five stories below me. I couldn’t move at all once I hit the ground, and the Octoling who captured me landed nearby.

The wind was knocked out of me, and I barely managed to speak. “But… didn’t I only splat like… three of you? And only when… left no choice.” Unfortunately, this seemed to only make the Octoling angrier. Clearly, this is not a good scenario to be in.

“No. Choice. _No choice_?” The Octoling picked me up and hurled me into a wall, knocking the wind out of me again. “You could have just grabbed the Zapfish and left!” My captor’s fist met my eye, both giving me a black eye and removing my blindfold, allowing me to finally see her. She looks like one of the many Octolings I fought in my missions, except she wasn’t wearing her glasses, and the red tentacle that would normally droop over her right eye was cut. “But you insisted on splatting some of us before grabbing it!” She then kicked me in my torso, squishing me between her foot and the wall.

The Octoling turned around, walked away, and got into some sort of cockpit. She seemed to press a few buttons, and something rose up out of the ground. Her voice came out of some sort of speaker, and I saw her smile once in control. “This is where the fun begins.”

That can’t be good.

🦑 -> 🐙

“Hey, uh, guys?” I interrupted the Squid Sisters before they began cuing for a game.

“What is it Korral?” Marie asked this in an annoyed tone. She just wanted to get to the next game.

“It’s been half an hour since we split from Krakatoa. Shouldn’t he be done by now?” Once I brought this up, Callie checked her watch and became worried as well.

“Yeah, in the small time I’ve known him, when he says he’ll do something, he’ll do it, and there’s no way he isn’t done getting his stuff yet.” Callie looked over to Marie, silently pleading for cooperation.

After a bit, Marie caved in. “Fine. Gramps probably just had something for him to do. Let’s go check in.” She reluctantly put her weapon away and walked to the grate, while Callie and I sprinted to Cuttlefish’s shack. I pounded on the door, and was greeted by Agent 3, whose head I nearly bashed in.

“Woah there Korral, what’s the rush?”

“KrakatoawasgoingtocontactusoncehegotallhisstufffromSalmonRunsohecouldjoinusbuthalfanhourhaspassedsowestartedworryinghashebeengivenanassignment?” Agent 3 was very confused from that. I guess I spoke too fast.

“Okay, okay, I’ll try to decipher that. Agent 4 hasn’t contacted you like he agreed to, and now you’re worried.” My jaw must have dropped, since Three gave an explanation to my silent question. “I’ve known Callie for two years, I’m used to rushed speaking.”

Callie probably would have been offended, if she weren’t preoccupied with helping me.

“Agent 3, was he given an assignment?”

Agent 3’s face drained of some of the color on it. “No, not by me, nor the Captain.”

To the right, I heard a deep voice chuckle. “You lost your Agent? Pity.” Octavio’s tone made it clear he was mocking us. _He knows something._

“Thanks for the intel, Agent 3, but I think we were talking to the wrong person.” I turned away from the Inkling, and marched over to the octopus. “What do you know, Octavio?”

“I don’t know _anything_ about your missing Agent, and even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you.” Octavio is really bad at lying about having information.

I started pushing the snowglobe away from the grate. “I have ways of making people talk, Octavio, especially people who are trapped, like yourself.” I increased my strength, and the snowglobe started to slide rather than scrape. In no time at all, the glass prison was at the edge, and I lifted one side to have it tilt like it were going to fall off, but I kept it from completely falling. I felt Octavio dash to the side farthest from the ground far below, attempting to tip the snowglobe back on firm ground. “Listen here, Octavio, tell me what you know, or you’re going over the edge, plummeting to your death.” To emphasize my point, I shook the snowglobe.

“N-never!” While he was still refusing, I was definitely breaking him. There was only one thing left to do.

“Okay then. Your choice.” I let go of the snowglobe, and nudged it for it to tip off the edge. Once the base was perpendicular to the ground, I caught it and stopped it from entirely falling off. “How about now, Octavio? Still going to refuse?”

Octavio made some sort of noise, which sounded oddly like crying. “In the time frame I began to doze off, but before I did I saw an Octoling go through the grate. If they returned, I wouldn’t know since you woke me up with your blabbering. Now please put me back on the ground!” Content that I had gotten the lead I needed, I pushed the bottom of the snowglobe back down, and pushed it back to its original positioning.

“Wait, what does that mean?” Marie asked, now intrigued and worried since that was all we had for where Krakatoa went.

It seemed to me that it was pretty obvious what was happening. “Krakatoa is in Cephalon HQ, the heart of Octarian society.”

“Oh cod, we need to go get him!”

“No! _I_ will go, _you_ will stay here!” This is the only time I’ve yelled at them, so it makes sense why Callie, Marie, and Agent 3 were cowering a bit. “If you guys show up, a fight will be certain, and Krakatoa might be killed before we can get to him. However, _I_ might be able to sneak in!”

Agent 3 worked up the courage to speak. “A-Agent 8, it’s too dangerous to go alone. You need to take someone else at least.”

While I was still livid, I calmed down a little bit. She was right; to go alone was about as foolish as bringing Inklings into the Octarian headquarters. That being said, there was one other person I could bring without having the alarm immediately go off.

I through the grate back to Inkopolis, made a beeline for the entrance to Off the Hook’s studio, and checked the time; 12:10 in the afternoon, they just finished the news. I threw open the door, and stormed into the studio. Some security guards tried to stop me, but I pushed them out of the way. Once I reached the door to where they sit in between broadcasts, I kicked it open.

“WHAT THE—Korral?” Pearl was clearly startled, but I didn’t come here for her. I walked over to Marina, grabbed her arm, and pulled her out of the room. She didn’t cooperate, but she didn’t resist either. Once we got to the exit of the studio, we both turned into our octopus form to avoid the crowd and slip into the grate undetected.

“Marina, do you still have your uniform from when you worked for Octavio?”

“Y-yeah, why? And why’d you pull me away from Pearl?”

“Once we get to the Captain’s shack, change into it. We’re going back to Cephalon HQ to rescue Krakatoa. He was captured by a hostile Octoling when he was alone, and I don’t know what they’re doing to him, but it will worsen if we stage an assault.” Marina gave an small grunt, which I assume means she understands and not that she’s in pain.

“So, we need our outfits to sneak in and rescue him without raising alarm. I’m in.” Marina was awfully quick to join in my efforts here. “Though, could we have a secondary objective?” For this part, she seemed a bit cautious.

“Depends on what it is.”

“I was thinking that we could maybe… liberatetheotherOctolings?” By now, we had slipped through the grate, and I looked at my partner on this mission, mentally deciphering the request. Once I did, I laughed, and Marina looked embarrassed.

“You read my mind. Now, go get changed, and don’t bother with the goggles; if we’re to release them, they need to know that we’ve been to Inkopolis.”

Marina brightened up, and ran off to get into her gear. At the same time, Cap’n Cuttlefish walked out of his shack.

“What’s all this ruckus ’bout?” He looked around, and noticed that only Marina and I were around, and I had just had my weapon materialize. He pointed his Bamboozler at me. “For your sake, ya better not be plannin’ anything.”

“Relax, Captain.” Once I called him by his title, he put his weapon back down. “We aren’t planning anything against you. We’re going to Cephalon HQ to rescue Agent 4, but you can’t come with us; we want to avoid a fight, and you’d likely just trigger one. Sorry.” Once I finished, he just nodded.

“All right, I get’cha. I won’t interfere. You go get him, and I’ll tell the others once they come back.”

“Thanks for your support, Cap’n.” I smiled at him, and he returned it. At the same time, Marina returned, sporting her old uniform, which looked rather small on her. She even put the kelp in her tentacles.

“I just told Pearl what I was doing, and that she’ll have to do the next broadcast by herself. You ready to go Korral?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.” With that, we super jumped to the bunker’s entrance. I turned to Marina, and sighed.

“Look, I’m sorry for dragging you into this. You don’t have to help, but know that no matter what, I’m going in to rescue Krakatoa. I’m either going to return with him, or die trying. If you want, you can go back.”

Marina put her hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and she had a small smile on her face. “I’m glad you brought me into this. Not only will we save Agent 4, but we may be able to save some Octolings as well. Now, let’s go save our friend!” She prepared to open the door, and I nodded as confirmation. As it opened, the door made a loud squeak, and all eyes in the hallway turned to us. We were then greeted with cheering, which we both thought was unusual.

“Why are they cheering?” Marina whispered this to me out of the corner of her mouth.

“We left here, and didn’t return for two years, remember?” I reminded Marina of how all of this started. “They’ve probably been awaiting our return. We can use this to our advantage. Ask where the person in charge is.”

“Oh, right!” Marina was about to speak, when one of the Octolings walked up to us.

“Marina! Korral! It’s so great to see you guys back! We thought you were captured by Agent 3 all those years ago, or worse.” The Octoling was male, and seemed to have a very bubbly personality. I glanced at Marina, and we made a silent agreement: this one we save for sure.

“Thanks for the welcome…” I set it up for him to give us his name.

“Oh, Rook.”

“Well, _Rook_ ,” Just with Marina simply saying his name, he almost fainted. Almost. “Could you take us to the person in charge?” Again, Rook almost fainted.

“S-sure thing! Follow me.” Rook led the way, and smugly looked at some other Octolings as he passed them. I assume that they were his friends. We continued walking through the labyrinth that is the base, until Rook stopped outside a door. “Here you are.”

“Thank you.” Marina walked to the door, and waited for me to open it.

I walked over to Rook, and whispered in his ear. “Listen, Rook, go stand outside the door, and stay there, no matter what. If anyone asks what you’re doing, tell them it’s an order from your superior, got it?”

He nodded with a determined look, and walked back the way we came.

“Starting the liberation early, eh?” Marina teased.

“We made an agreement. Now, let’s continue with our mission.”

Marina opened the door, and we both walked in. Sitting at the desk was an elite Octoling without her goggles, eyes green and purple, just like Octavio’s. Her black tentacles were put into some sort of bun, and the tip of each was the purple color of Octarian ink. She noticed us, and gestured for us to sit down.

“So, you two finally returned. Where have you been all this time?” We hadn’t thought we would have to answer questions, so I improvised a bit.

“I don’t remember. I was so focused on getting back, that I wasn’t paying attention to where we were.” I focused on appearing calm, while all three of my hearts were beating about twice as fast.

“That makes sense. In any case, we’re happy to have you back.” Marina took over talking now.

“On our way here, we heard something. Could you confirm it for us?” The Octoling thought about it, then agreed. “We heard that in our absence, not only did a new Agent show up, but that Agent was captured, too.”

The Octoling in front of us looked a bit confused. “A new Agent did show up, but we have not captured him.” That doesn’t make sense.

Marina questioned this further. “Really, because we talked to Octavio himself, and he said that someone managed to capture Agent 4.” Once what she said registered in my mind, I felt the color drain from my face; a mistake has been made.

The Octoling across from us also registered what Marina had said. “If what you say is true, there are only two ways you could’ve done that. The first is that you were captured, but if you were you wouldn’t have been able to escape and get here. The other way is if you were part of the New Squidbeak Splatoon that’s been attacking us.”

I swiftly got up and punched the Octoling, knocking her out, but not before she set off the alarm.

“Marina, get into the system and look for anything out of the ordinary, anything that could tell us where Krakatoa is. Oh, and getting a map of this place would be helpful, too.”

“Already on it.” I heard her typing away, and her phone beeped. “Map downloaded. Now, what doesn’t seem normal…?” I heard some faint marching, and knew that other hostile Octolings were on the way.

I changed the color of my ink from my usual pink color to the same green that Krakatoa uses. Marina saw me do this, and did the same, though for her it was less noticeable; she also threw away the kelp on her head, and changed into her stage outfit. The marching was as loud as it could be, then stopped.

“There’s a lot of energy being used in the practice arena. Marking it on my map… okay, I know where we’re going!” Marina looked up, and saw me with my finger over my mouth, and she immediately moved as quietly as possible to the door. I cracked the door open, and peeked through. There seemed to be about a hundred of them, and one shot a Blaster towards me, and I only barely closed the door in time.

“Come on out! We know you’re in there!”

I looked at Marina, and created a Splat Bomb in my hand. She looked down, handed me her phone with the map pulled up, and sadly nodded. I turned, grabbed the handle of the door, and yelled to whoever spoke. “Okay, fine. We give up.” I opened the door, threw the Splat Bomb out, and closed the door again. Once I heard it explode, I kicked the door off its hinges.

I ran out, and pushed any who stood between me and my destination to the ground. I just sprinted, not letting anyone stop me. Marina managed to keep up, but it didn’t matter. I wasn’t looking at the map, and I got lost. I looked back to check on both Marina and the army behind her, and then ran into a wall. I fell to the ground, and Marina picked me up. Once I got my bearings again, the army had caught up to us, and we were backed against the wall. An elite Octoling stepped forward, and had a standoff with us. All the other Octolings raised their Octoshots to where they could shoot at us.

“Any last words?” The elite Octoling raised her Octoshot as well, and glared at us.

I felt my tentacles glow, and somehow I knew what the special was. In fact, I’ve seen this special used before. I checked the map, and saw that we had to turn left to get back on track. After scanning the area, I saw the branched hallway where the turn was; it was close enough that I could get to it in a matter of seconds if the army wasn’t in my way.

I looked back to the elite Octoling in our way. “You should probably get out of the way.” I used the special, and a large device reminiscent of a megaphone appeared in front of me. Recognizing what it was, the entire army rushed to get out of the way. I fired, managing to not get a single person with it. I ran through the laser, and Marina followed, once we reached the turn, we turned into our octopus form to squeeze through the line of Octolings that formed, and continued running. It took a couple minutes, but the army did end up running after us. However, we found the room we were looking for and ducked into it before the army even got into the same hallway. We didn’t move at all until we knew that all of them had passed.

Once the sound of marching faded away, we were greeted by a new sound, the sound of scraping metal, and a much quieter, part scream, part cry sound. I recognized it immediately.

“Marina,” She seemed to already know this, but I said it in case she didn’t. “We found him.”

“We need to approach carefully. We don’t know what we’re up against here.” Marina was right. I walked down the corridor, following the light and sounds at the end of it. Once I reached the end, I was greeted by something I haven’t seen in a long time.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Marina joined me, and answered the question. “Yes. That’s the Octomaw that Three fought against years ago. It seems to be modified, though; it seems faster, stronger, harder to defeat, and it’s being piloted.” I looked, and there was an Octoling in a glass bubble on the machine’s head; the machine also resembles what ancient sharks look like more than a Zapfish.

I was looking around, and I saw a mass of red with some green peeking through fly from the Octomaw and slam against the wall, staining where it hit crimson. I ran over to it, and realized it was Krakatoa. He’s in the tank top worn underneath his hero suit, and his headphones were by the entrance. He was barely conscious, and covered with gashes, all of which were bleeding. There’s no doubt about who was responsible for this.

“K-Korral?” Krakatoa’s voice was weak. “I’m glad to see you.” He gave a weak smile, but I could tell that was excruciatingly painful for him.

“Shh.” I desperately needed him to not stress himself at all, simply so he wouldn’t force more of his blood out. “Rest, I’ll take care of this.” He closed his eyes, and I decided to take a calculated risk; I wiped the blood off of his forehead, and placed my lips on it. As Krakatoa drifted off to sleep, I saw the corner of his mouth turn upwards.

I turned around to face my new foe, and found them having stopped and watched the whole thing. “Ah, so the Agent’s girlfriend is the traitor?” The hissing voice sounded familiar, and upon seeing the face of the pilot I know why.

“Hello again, Rhyder.” Two years ago, she had been made infamous by her inability to let things go; her tentacle was cut off accidentally by a soldier in training, and every time Rhyder passed the inexperienced soldier, she would bully the poor girl. Not long after, the girl disappeared from the base, and no one knew what happened to her. “So, you still haven’t found that tentacle. Pity; you could probably reattach it.” She got angrier, as I planned; ironically, she can only see red when angry, which was always her greatest weakness.

“Korral, haven’t seen you in a while. I was having fun with Agent 4 there, but you crashed the party.” She put her hands back on the controls. “ _You_ were always an easy target. This should be fun.” She dove under the ground, a feature of Octarian technology I’ve always been confused about, and the fight began.

I always knew where the mech was, not only because it created a trail of ink, but because there was a massive dorsal fin poking out as well. I stood my ground, waiting for the jaw to appear beneath me. It never did; the fin circled around the arena again and again, until it slowly made its way to the edge. Once there, it lined up with me, and charged at me, the top of it gradually emerging until I could see its mouth. The teeth closed the entire thing off, so I shot ink at them, hoping to break them, but the teeth were unbreakable. I created a path and swam to the side to avoid being rammed by the machine. Once I got out of the way, I saw the mouth open slightly, and realized that I have a split second as my attack opportunity.

The Octomaw did its circling thing again, and this time I noticed an inkswitch on the dorsal fin. I got over to it, and inked the switch. Once I did, the machine stopped, and shot up from the ground. While in the air, it grew larger, increasing length, width, and height. It dove back into the ground, and both dorsal fins, along with the top of its tail, were poking out. Marina’s voice went through my earpiece.

“My sensors indicate that by inking that switch, you made it stronger. At the same time, it uses significantly more energy. It’s not powered by a Zapfish, or any other external power source; there seems to be some sort of reactor in the heart of it, which is accessible through the mouth. It’s readings indicate that it’s at a dangerous level of power usage, and it is susceptible to ink; that’s probably to save some sort of money or something.”

I was watching the machine circle me, and I noticed another switch on its tail. “If inking one switch made it use more power, then another should make the generator overload, right?”

“Yes, and that’s never a good thing if you’re using the machine.”

With this newfound knowledge of the machine’s weakness, I swam over to the tail. I managed to ink the switch, then it slapped me with it before launching up again, which seemed unnecessary. The mech grew larger yet again, gaining a third dorsal fin. Once it landed, I heard the hissing voice again.

“Ha! You idiot, you only made me stronger!” Until now, I had completely forgotten that Rhyder was piloting the Octomaw, which explains the tail slap. She gave up circling, and just continuously charged. I was running out of room to move, and the Octomaw ended up grazing me every time it passed me. I inked a path to the side, and looked directly at the charging machine. As its jaw began to open, I chucked a Splat Bomb towards it, and swam for my life. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bomb go in, and heard a faint clattering noise as it hit the interior, on its way to the mark. I heard it explode, and shortly after, smoke began passing through the cracks in the machine. The Octomaw exploded, and Rhyder fell to the ground in front of my feet.

“Why you little…” She sweeping kicked me, knocking me to the ground. She leaped on me, arms outstretched in the direction of my neck, but I kicked her over me and jumped up in the same movement. I turned around, and faced my opponent yet again.

“It’s time for us to end this, once and for all!” I dissolved my Octoshot and ink tank, and put my hands up, squaring off.

“Couldn’t agree more, runt.” 

Rhyder charged at me, and I simply stepped out of the way like I did with the Octomaw, extending my leg to trip her. She stumbled, but didn’t fall, quickly recovering and spinning around. I could clearly see how crazed she was, simply from her eyes. She punched towards my head, and I ducked, grabbing her arm and flinging her over me onto the ground. Still holding onto her arm, I spun and threw her into the wall. I ran, preparing to hit her with a flying kick, but she rolled out of the way, and I kicked the wall. Rhyder kicked me in my side, knocking me to the ground. I shook it off, but she grabbed my neck from behind and pulled me up. I turned into my octopus form and darted through her legs to get behind her. I put Rhyder into a chokehold, but she wasn’t so easily subdued. She ran backwards the best she could, and I had to do the same to stay upright. Doing so, she managed to ram me into a wall, which caused me to let go of her. She turned and punched me in the stomach, then the face. In between punches, I scanned the arena. I noticed that there was one part of the edge where there was no wall, just an opening into the abyss below. Rhyder punched my left eye, and once I opened my eyes again, I was looking directly at Krakatoa, still tied up and slumped against the wall.

I remembered the reason why I had come here in the first place, why I was even fighting right now. Knowing that Rhyder was to blame for Krakatoa’s current state filled me with a new energy. I looked back at my opponent, who was about to throw another punch on my face. I caught the punch, surprising her. I saw the opening, and used my right arm to punch her in the gut. I unleashed my fury onto Rhyder, sending her further backwards with every punch. Eventually, we reached the edge of the arena, where it opened to the abyss below. Rhyder stepped back, her heel off the edge. She looked at me, fear in her eyes. I kicked her in the chest, sending her falling backwards. She reached out to grab me in the hopes to bring me with her, but I turned into my octopus form and became too small and slippery for Rhyder to grab.

While adrenaline was still flowing through my veins, I took Krakatoa, tied him to my back, disabled the electricity in the rope, and ran out faster than I ever had before, grabbing and putting his headphones on him. As I passed her, I grabbed Marina’s wrist, pulling her along. I chuckled a bit at the irony of the situation, being a mirror of the escape two years ago. We passed some Octolings in the hall, or at least I think they’re Octolings; everything we were passing was just a blur, which means we were that to them. We soon reached the door, and we blasted through that, closing it as fast as I opened it.

“Marina? Korral?” I heard a familiar voice, and I remembered I had told Rook to stay out here no matter what. “What happened earlier? Why did the alarm go off? Wait, is that Agent 4?”

“I can see… you’ve got a lot of questions.” The adrenaline was running out, and I was out of breath. “But let me ask you one.” I got his attention with this. “Do you really want to fight the New Squidbeak Splatoon? I don’t care what your commanders want you to do, what do _you_ want?”

This seemed to catch him off guard, but he answered. “No, I never wanted to, but I had to in order to not be executed.”

“Then come with us.” I pressed into a pressure point on Krakatoa, changing him into his squid form like I heard it would do. “We have to super jump to get to Inkopolis, but we’ll get there if you follow us.” Rook nodded, and I turned to Marina. “Sorry about not being able to rescue any more.”

“There’s no problem. I gave it some thought, and realized taking them would be like what happened to Krakatoa, so, while you were fighting Rhyder…” Marina pulled out her phone, and pressed a button. I heard Calamari Inkantation playing from within the base. “I hacked into the speaker system. I’m leaving the decision to move to Inkopolis to them.”

“Good thinking. Now, we need to get back.” I super jumped back to the Captain’s shack, and heard Marina and Rook jump behind me. We all landed, and everyone else was there. I pushed Rook to the front. “Hey everyone, we’re back. This is Rook, a friendly Octoling, and there’s probably going to be a lot more on the way. Anyway, I gotta go because Krakatoa here has been bleeding for like the entire time he’s been missing okay bye.” I went through the grate and ran to the hospital, hoping that I’m not too late.

🐙 -> 🦑

I slowly opened my eyes, and looked around. The last thing I remember, I was in the base of the Octarians, being torn apart by a machine piloted by an Octarian who mistook me for Agent 3 somehow. Now, I’m in some sort of living room, laying on a couch, wrapped up almost entirely in bandages. I heard a noise from a connected room.

“Who’s there?” I shifted from lying down to sitting, prepared to fight if I have to. I heard feet shuffling, and saw a shadow appear in one of the linking door ways. When the person turned the corner, I relaxed, recognizing the face.

“Oh thank cod, you’re awake!” Korral ran over and embraced me. “You’ve been out for three days.” She got off of me, and scowled at me. “Don’t _ever_ do that to me again.”

I laughed a bit. “I can’t promise that.” Korral gave a small smile. “Now that that’s over, where are we?”

Korral helped me up, and brought me over to a window overlooking the Square. “We’re in a penthouse; you needed somewhere to rest, and the hospital wouldn’t let me stay there the entire time again.” She gave a nervous laugh. “Since Callie and Marie had a lot of extra cash, they bought this place for us.” She gave me a smile, and I smiled back. “Anyway, look at the Plaza. There’s something I want you to see.”

I looked, and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. But I looked closer, and noticed some tentastyles I haven’t seen before, with the exception of one, and some of the people below didn’t have the black band between their eyes like I, and every other Inkling had. I saw a group of them, which I pointed to as an example. “Are they what I think they are?” I turned to Korral, and she was grinning from ear to ear.”

“They’re Octolings! Marina and I saved them!” I chuckled, and put my arm around Korral’s waist, turning back to the Square.

“Nice job, Korral.” I turned to her, put my arm around her waist, and we turned to the window to watch the people down below. For the first time in a while, I actually felt loved.


	2. The Great Turf War 2: Eelectric Boogaloo

“Hey, Korral?” I searched the penthouse for her, which took a bit longer than I thought. Eventually I found her, curled up on the couch, sleeping. I walked over and lightly tapped her face, waking her up.

“Huh?” She slowly opened her, eyes, then relaxed again once she saw it was me. “Oh, Krakatoa. What is it, is there a mission for us?”

“No, but Pearl and Marina told me that there’s something special on the broadcast today, and I think you should see it. Callie, Marie, and Three are already in the Square.” Korral groaned, and I sighed, resorting to the only thing I could think of to get her down there. “We’ll stop by Seabucks on the way.” Korral leapt off the couch, and ran to the elevator. I joined her, and called Three to get her order.

We got to the Plaza, and I gave out drinks, removing my hot chocolate first. “Korral, your caramel Saltte; Callie, your Lemon Tea; Marie, your Milk Tea; and Three, here’s your fish oil.” As I handed it to her, Three removed the lid from her drink, and chugged the whole thing, while the rest of us took sips from our drinks.

The broadcast started, and I saw the blank terminal appear. I looked up, and watched Korral become visibly confused when the normal routine was interrupted by the Splatfest announcement. However, when the theme of the anniversary Splatfest was revealed, we all reacted. Callie, Marie, and Three all looked mortified, Korral did a spit take, and I choked on my drink. I agree with Marina; this topic  _ is _ dangerous, considering not only what has recently happened, but what’s happened in the past, too.

I chuckled. “Squid versus Octopus in a Turf War, significantly more lighthearted than last time, but…” I got a glare from Three. “I’ll shut up now.” I sighed. “So, uh, what team are you on?” I made it clear that I was trying to be considerate, not trying to start a fight while trying to start a conversation.

“I’ll sit this one out.” Marie was clearly not a fan.

“Yeah, I don’t really want to participate in this one either.” Callie seemed a bit sick at the thought of such.

Three shrugged. “Yeah, I don’t really need the Super Sea Snails.” At least I know where Three’s priorities lie.

“What about you, Korral?” I looked at her, and saw she already had her Splatfest Tee on; it was black, with the text and design in hot pink. Team Octopus.

“Oh. Sorry. I just… I just wanted to sport who I am.” Korral looked sheepish, but I just laughed a bit.

“Don’t apologize, Korral; these are designed to be picked off of personality, not anything else.” I walked over to the terminal, and picked my team, getting a Splatfest Tee with a white base and light green text; Team Squid. I walked back, and Korral had a look of disbelief on her face. “What? You did the same thing, and now we have a rivalry to make this Splatfest more interesting.”

“H-hey! This isn’t fair, you know more about Splatfests than me,  _ and _ you’ve been playing longer, too!” Korral had a point, but I had a plan for this already.

“I know that, but you’re already at the same rank as me, and I was going to teach you the ropes of Splatfests. Oh, and we should call Rook and get him on board, too.” Korral called him, and he walked over, looking a bit shaken and sporting a Team Squid Tee. Korral sneered at him for a moment, then stopped when I talked to him.

“Hey Rook. I see you’ve already chosen what team you’re on.”

“Yeah… it wasn’t easy.” He looked at his feet. “I’ve always wanted to know what being an Inkling is like, so I chose Team Squid.” Korral was visibly confused, but I just nodded.

“That makes sense. Anyway, let’s go play Turf War, I’ll explain things while we wait.” We went into the Lobby to begin queuing, and I noticed that Rook and Korral changed out of their Splatfest Tees. “You guys should put your Tees back on; if you get all three abilities before the Splatfest begins, you’ll be at an advantage. You can even wear the Tee in Ranked, which with its Ability Doubler main ability can be better than whatever other gear you have.”

“In that case, can we go get a drink from Crusty Sean?” Korral asked this, but I simply dismissed it.

“Random abilities are better, since they can give you a significant edge; especially don’t use Ability Chunks, since you have to return the Tee and start over next time. Ready up once you have your gear in place.” They readied up, and we played Turf War until all three abilities were obtained. It also worked as practice for Rook, since he has yet to get the hang of it.

**2 Weeks Later**

The Splatfest is in full swing, and Korral, Rook and I were standing at the entrance of the Lobby, ready to go in and fight for our team. Korral and I each had our usual outfit, but with a Splatfest Tee of course, and Rook had the starter headband and shoes.

“Rook, you ready to go?”

“Ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Alright. See ya in battle, Korral. Good luck.”

“Good luck to you two, as well.”

With that, we went into the Lobby, and went for a game. Once we queued, Rook morphed into an Inkling, with the side-swept tentastyle. We ended up going to Shifty Station, which this time had three gates for each team, which can be lowered by destroying the tentacles; I assume these gates allow for more access of the map. When we spawned, Korral was on the other team. I’m using my usual Hero Dualies, Rook’s using the Junior (not a bad choice considering it recently got a bigger ink tank), Korral’s using her usual Octoshot, and everyone else is using…

“Ugh, Aerosprays.” I hate them because of how useless at combat and how cheap they are, and mumbled this to myself. “At least they’re being used in the only mode where it’s useful. Okay Rook, this is either going to be a clean sweep for us, a clean sweep for them, or one of the most even battles you’ll ever participate in.” The battle began, and ink was flying  _ everywhere _ .

After only the first minute, there was a flurry of Suction Bombs, Curling Bombs, Sprinklers, Ballers, and the occasional Splat and Burst Bombs. I had taken out every tentacle our team could, and I started getting pelted from not an Aerospray, so I knew it was Korral; I turned around, rolled out of the way, and fired back. I was about to get splatted when Rook’s Ink Armor covered me, and I gained the advantage, splatting Korral with a Burst Bomb. I yelled “Booyah” as a taunt, and moved on. Later, in the last thirty seconds, right after I had launched Tenta Missiles on three of them, splatting only one, I was splatted by an Inkjet, and Korral yelled “Booyah” as a taunt as well. I respawned, and got to work inking as much as I could, and eventually the game ended. We all looked at the two cats, awaiting their Judd-ment. My team won by only 0.1 percent, and we celebrated. Not long after, Rook and I kept playing games, and Korral was in about a third of them. We played for… wait how long did we play for? We played until all three of us wanted to break for food.

“So, Korral, how have your games gone?” I figured it was only fair to ask, since we weren’t currently fighting.

“A lot of the ones not against you two were against my own team.”

“Oh yeah, we didn’t even go against our own team, did we?” Rook was right; I don’t remember a single game against our own team. Back here in the Square, he had returned to his Octoling form.

“Well, Korral, I already know that your team has a point for popularity. That’s a good thing for you, bad for us.” As we finished eating, I thought of something. “Hey Rook, something I didn’t mention is that there are three points awarded: one for popularity, one for group wins, and one for solo wins. Since we’ve been playing in a group, I was thinking to split up and solo queue so we can help on that side.”

Rook seemed a bit unsure, but he nodded in agreement.

I turned to Korral, who had her arms crossed indignantly. “Korral, I’m leaving the final thing up to you: what time do we meet back up and call it a day? The Splatfest ends at midnight, and the results won’t be figured out until noon tomorrow.”

Korral gave it a bit of thought, and told us the time we were cut off. “Eleven o’clock, we meet back up over by Grizzco.”

We all agreed, and I played for the entirety of the time before the cutoff. I was a Squid King, and Korral was an Octopus Queen; we never got what Rook’s rank was, since when the time came for us to meet up, he wasn’t there. Korral called him, and still didn’t get a response. We both wrote it off as him simply calling it early.

The next day, Korral and I both went to the Square to see the broadcast. She called Rook again, but still didn’t get a response. We turned to the large TV on Deca Tower, and watched as we saw the stats. Octopus won in popularity, 55.96% to 44.04%; Squid won in solo, 51.66% to 48.34%; Squid won team, 52.94% to 47.06%. Squid had won the Splatfest, 2-1. I was given twenty-four Super Sea Snails, and Korral was given twenty-one.

“Good game, Korral.”

“Yeah, good game.”


	3. Reconciling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this story contains a headcanon prevalent in the rest of the series.

“Krakatoa?” Korral yawned as she came into the room, I having just finished packing my bag. “Where are you going?”

“Oh, hey Korral. Cap’n is taking Callie and Marie to Wahoo World for a short vacation, and Three’s taking a few days off. Cap’n asked me to watch his shack, and more importantly Octavio, and I accepted, so I’m heading off now.” Korral nodded.

“Okay. Stay safe.”

“That’s the plan. Don’t visit me; I need to focus on keeping everything as it is now.” I departed for the shack, and ran into Cap’n Cuttlefish right as I got into Octo Canyon. “Oh, hey. Any extra info you have for me?”

“There’s food in the refrigerator; I don’t know what you like, so I just got a variety.”

“Oh, that’s fine. You guys have fun in Wahoo World.”

“You got it, Agent 4! See ya in a few days!” Cap’n went through the grate, and Callie and Marie walked out in “disguises” soon after. They bid farewell to me, and I them. Once they were gone, I walked over to Octavio’s snowglobe and put my duffle bag on the ground.

“Hey Octavio.” He responded with an angry grunt. “Don’t be like that. You’re the only other person I’ll have to talk to for a couple days, so I brought some games for us to play. Which do you want to play: chess, checkers, Mo—”

“Chess. I’ll go first.” I set up the board, and Octavio told me what to move where. “Knight from B1 to C3.” I moved the piece for him, then moved my own. This was how the game went, until Octavio eventually put me in checkmate. “Set it up again.”

“Okay, but before we begin, can I ask you something?”

“Depends,” Octavio tilted his head to look at me. “What is it?”

“I was wondering why you took all the Zapfish and Callie.”

Octavio scowled at me, then softened his gaze. “As you know, us Octarians lost the Great Turf War all those years ago to you Inklings; you guys got the surface, and we were forced to move underground. A side effect is that you got not only the Great Zapfish, but the other ones, too. So I stole them all, and your city managed to be powered for weeks without them, from the Great Zapfish alone. I took Callie because she was vulnerable, and Cuttlefish cares about her. I was hoping to use her as a bargaining chip to get power and a morale boost for my army in the time I had her. Instead, you showed up and got her back.” Octavio sighed, then looked down towards Cephalon HQ. “I just wanted all of them to be happy….”

“Octavio.” I was on the verge of tears, but I wiped them away. “I’ll see what I can do once they get back.” He seemed to smile, and we continued playing. We took up the rest of the day playing chess, and the next two days as well; I didn’t win a single game.

“You know, Octavio, you actually aren’t that bad a guy.” I leaned against the base of the snowglobe, having stretched and settling in to sleep. “You’re just a bit misunderstood….”

“You’re not so bad either, Four.” After my alleged enemy complimented me, I drifted off to sleep.

I was in a different position I fell asleep in, and I woke up to an intense burning on my back. My eyes shot open, and I noticed that I was somehow in the snowglobe, and Octavio was missing. Not only that, but the burning sensation was from what was filling the prison: water. I got as high as I could in the ball, but I could tell that the water was rising at a steady rate, one much too fast for my tastes. I used my legs and left arm to keep me at the top, and pressed the button on my headphones that sends a distress signal with my right hand.

“Come on guys, I need you to respond quickly….” The water was about a foot below me. I tried kicking the glass to break it, but stopped that effort when I almost slipped and fell. The water kept rising, and was only six inches away from me when someone came through the grate.

“Four?”

“Three? Get me out of here!” Three ran over, and tried to deactivate the mechanism that pumped the water in, but it was broken to the point of no return. Three grabbed a branch off of the tree growing nearby, and started breaking the side of the snowglobe that the cliff was on; I assume she was planning for the water to spill over the edge and out of the way. A crack appeared in the glass where she was hitting it, but it wasn’t breaking fast enough; the water rose three inches in the time it took for her to slightly break it.

Not long after, Korral, the Captain, Callie, and Marie came through the grate. They started punching, kicking, and throwing rocks to make the crack larger, and they succeeded, creating a spider web from the cracks. The water was right in front of me; any longer and I’d melt into nothing. I saw everyone take a step back, and Three threw the branch at the crack, breaking the snowglobe. The water flooded out, and since the crack was on the same side as my hands, I was able to grab the top of it and flip on top. I hopped down, and started pushing the snowglobe off the cliff so the water won’t be a problem anymore, and I watched it fall all the way down.

“Four, how’d ya even get in there?” The Captain looked at me in bewilderment.

“Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is that Octavio’s gone.”

Korral came over from the shack’s door, holding a note. Whatever she was going to say, she was interrupted by Pearl and Marina coming through the grate.

“Yo, guys! We have a problem.” Pearl looked extremely worried, something  _ I’ve _ never seen. “All the Octolings who moved to Inkopolis have disappeared!”

Marina looked even more worried, and she spoke now. “Do you guys have any sort of lead on this?”

“I think I might.” Korral spoke up, and showed everyone the note:

Korral,

You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.

\- R

“Oh no….” Marina’s face drained of color, and I know why.

“‘R?’ Who the shell is ‘R?’” I forgot we never told the others what happened.

“Korral,” I looked at her, and she looked worried. “Is that who I think it is?” She nodded.

“Rhyder.”


End file.
